Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, stated in an official address that the burqa, a garment worn by many Muslim women, has no place in France as it was a sign of the subjugation of women. The debate about the burqa is reminiscent of a controversy that raged for a decade in France about Muslim girls wearing headscarves in class. Eventually, a law was passed in 2004 banning pupils from wearing conspicuous signs of their religion at state schools. Critics say the law stigmatised Muslims at a time when France should have been fighting discrimination in the job and housing markets.
Students in Antwerp public schools will no longer be allowed to wear a headscarf. Other religious symbols are also going to be banned from the first of September. Political and religious symbols will be banned in the public schools of Antwerp from next school year. According to the school principals religious symbols clash with the principles of equality and the freedom of choice for students. "We have noticed that certain students have started feeling less comfortable over the past few years," says school principal Karin Heremans. "We have the impression that some students are under social pressure to conform and wear religious symbols." The decision to ban religious symbols from the public schools has drawn criticism from the immigrant community. The public schools have many students of different ethnic backgrounds. "This is an emotional decision but the students are at the centre of the discussion. It is a decision that is in the interest of the students."
In my opinion these kind of measures will only further alienate and antagonize Muslims in Western societies. I'm by no means an expert but several of my female NZAID students are Indonesian and wear headscarves without anyone ever commenting on this. Other women in our acquaintance here are Moroccan, Iraqi and Egyptian, with some of them choosing the hijab and others opting out. The ones I know who do cover their heads are no less educated, intelligent and independent and they're certainly not 'oppressed' or 'subjugated'! It's interesting to note the different perception of Muslims in New Zealand compared to countries like Belgium, France or Italy. Definitely something to ponder...
To the newcomer, the sight of women wreathed in black, and robbed of both colour and contour, falls on an unfamiliar portion of the senses. At first sight, all manner of associations rise alongside in the outsider's mind - lewd, obscurely fearful, or indignant, but always heavy with political connotation- and are strengthened by the endless portrayal of chador-clad and burqa-enveloped women in every photograph and film connected to the Islamic world as if they hold some meaningful clue to understanding the life of an entire culture. Such images are always evocative, but not particularly useful; because once you are over this early frisson, they become what they are: ordinary, like the sight of an Englishman with an umbrella. -Jason Elliott, Mirrors of the Unseen, Journeys in Iran, p.76-
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